Knee osteotomies are used to relieve pain symptoms, slow disease progression and postpone total knee arthroplasty. For example, to treat lower extremity malalignment and osteoarthritis, a high tibial osteotomy is employed to allow for the realignment of the lower extremity and, thus, either shift the weight-bearing access to the healthier portion of the knee or correct the alignment deformity. This procedure is performed by cutting the tibia and, with the use of an opening jack, allows the surgeon to dial in the exact correction desired to correct the angular deformity or shift the weight-bearing axis to a desired position in the knee. An anatomically precontoured low profile plate and screws are applied or a nonabsorbable PEEK implant and anchors are inserted to maintain and fixate the osteotomy.
There is a need for an opening jack that can provide a sloped or non-sloped opening depending on the surgeon's preference and on the plate used. Also needed are osteotomy procedures that prevent stress and macro fractures of the lateral bone cortex.